This Movie Is WEIRD - AfterArama Ep 1
The Mish and Zach Podcast
Hosts Mish and Zach launch their 'AfterArama' series with a deep dive into the 2019 romantic drama After. They explore the film's origins as
Key takeaways
- The film is based on popular Wattpad fan fiction originally inspired by Harry Styles.
- Hardin's character is described as a collection of 'horny tropes' with little internal logic.
Main topics
- After (2019) movie review
- Wattpad fan fiction origins
Notable quotes
I hate everything about you. But mostly I hate that I love you.
Conclusion
A humorous and highly critical review that sets a comedic tone for the
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:00) This is a Grouse House podcast. This is your official first ever After Arama spoiler warning. If you have not seen the 2019 romantic drama After, and you've always wanted to know what happens in that film, then probably avoid this episode because we will be spoiling it. It's going to be a bit of a deep dive, I reckon, and one of our best ever. So enjoy the episode. Speaker 1 (0:30) Why'd you stop? We've got time. Speaker 1 (0:36) Hello and welcome to Mission Zach's After-A-Rama, a podcast where each week we watch one film in the After-Film series. One of the five after films. I'm one of the two people that will be watching all five of the after films. Zachary Rawayne. I'm joined, as always, by Mish Wittrup, who chose this as the topic of film that will be, who chose these films, who saw these films and thought, let's watch these and talk about these for five weeks. Speaker 1 (1:11) That's the intro for After Arama. Oh. Mish. I'm so happy to be here. Shall you start with the blurb about After? So, Speaker 2 (1:22) yeah, absolutely I will. So, uh... Speaker 2 (1:27) Should I just jump straight into the blurb? Yeah, I reckon go for it. Do you explain what it is? Sorry? Speaker 1 (1:32) Do you explain what it is in the blurb? I should explain the story. Yeah, great. Let's go for it. All Speaker 2 (1:36) right, great. Let's have a look. Tess, a shy, introverted bookish type, has started at college. It is at college that she meets Harden, a bad boy with lots of tattoos, who, unbeknownst to Tess, does a bet with his shitmates to seduce her. But what will happen when our duo... maybe fall in love? Will Tess get her overbearing mother off her back? Will Harden maybe soften under Tess's wing? All will be revealed in this five film saga, starting with this, the first film, 2019's After. After. So. I would like to give you a little bit of background as to why I picked this. And Speaker 1 (2:20) also what it is. And why you picked it. Of course. So Speaker 2 (2:24) I, about a year ago, yeah, it would be about a year ago, was... You know, fuck it, I'll say it. About a year ago, I went through a breakup, right? And my brain was mushy. I'd moved house. I wasn't in a great spot. I could not take in anything of meaning. I just could not. I needed absolute drivel rubbish. And I looked up movies to watch when you have a soft brain, pretty much, right? And I found this Reddit thread of all these incredibly enthusiastic women that were like, Everyone needs to watch After. It changed my life. It is. And like, honestly, this Reddit thread of these, like maybe two dozen women just back and forthing about this incredible saga of films. Right. And I was just like. Five Speaker 1 (3:16) of them. Five After films. Yeah. Speaker 2 (3:19) Five. Yeah. And so I was just like, oh, well, this is perfect. And also they were like, oh, it's great if you're into like romance novels and stuff. Which Speaker 1 (3:27) you Speaker 2 (3:27) are. I was. Right. I went through a big, big. where I was reading or listening to a lot of smutty fiction. And I was like, oh, this is exactly what my soft little brain needs. And I put on After. Speaker 1 (3:41) Which is the film we watched. First film. And Speaker 2 (3:43) I watched first 15 minutes of this movie and went, I don't like this. And I turned it off. And then I could not stop thinking about it. I could not. And so I turned it back on 24 hours later and watched 15 more minutes. I'm like, no, this sucks. Like this movie is not good. So I turned it off. I obsessed over this film and Speaker 1 (4:06) I Speaker 2 (4:06) was like, I can't, I need to know what happens. So then I sat down and I finished the movie and then watched the first four films in a day. Wow. In one day. day and became obsessed with whatever the fuck this is right so then i looked into what it actually is and it's based off some obscenely popular fan fiction about one direction that was written in 2013 by this woman who also assisted in writing the screenplay for this film She started writing. She was really into fan fiction and she started writing one direction fan fiction that took the fuck off. And so what Pat? Speaker 1 (4:55) Which is the platform that she wrote. That's where she wrote it. And then they turned into books and the books were very popular. The books were Speaker 2 (5:01) very popular. And then Wattpad became a production studio that made film and they turned her stories, they changed Harry Styles' name to Hardin. So Speaker 1 (5:10) is he Harry Styles in the Wattpad? Speaker 2 (5:13) Yes. And in Wattpad, Harry Styles is a bad boy. And so they changed his Speaker 1 (5:18) name. Speaker 2 (5:18) Well, in life as well, he's quite the bad boy. He's a bit of a bad boy. They changed his name to Harden and made the movies after. Which Speaker 1 (5:25) is the same first three letters I just realised now. Speaker 1 (5:32) Okay. Speaker 2 (5:32) And so I pitched this because I'm hoping that you. Me. That you. Yeah, Speaker 1 (5:39) I. Speaker 2 (5:39) My very dear friend. We're dear Speaker 1 (5:41) friends. Speaker 2 (5:41) And often, like we often kind of have little sinking moments. With Jersey Shore is a good example. We sunk. Speaker 1 (5:48) Yeah, with Jersey Shore, I Speaker 2 (5:49) was like, I really hope you're on board. You watch it and you became as obsessed with the show as me. And it was this beautiful bonding moment. It Speaker 1 (5:55) was beautiful. Speaker 2 (5:55) And I am really hoping in my waters. Deep, deep down in my guts that you are as on board with my obscene, unnatural obsession with this film. Speaker 1 (6:10) After, well... Shall I answer that question? Mish, I think if you are just joining us for the first time because you're a fan of After. Speaker 1 (6:26) I've made Mish watch some stuff. Some of her favourite movies are sci-fi, but she also hates sci-fi. I've made her watch Star Trek. I've made her watch a lot of sci-fi in our time. She's tried to get back at me. She tried to get back at me with Jersey Shore, and I loved Jersey Shore. And I loved that you loved it. Mish. You have finally found my... You have found my sci-fi. Speaker 1 (6:58) And look at you, you were protecting, oh, I hope we're friends. I hope you love it. But look at that joy on your face. Speaker 2 (7:04) I knew that you wouldn't, I knew that you wouldn't be neutral. I knew that you wouldn't be neutral. And I was like, you're either going to be as on board with this as me, or you're going to fucking hate this. I Speaker 1 (7:16) will say there were moments where I was like, like, whether it were fun. I don't think there I've had as much joy. watching a film as when the Wattpad Studios logo came up Speaker 2 (7:32) at this time. Speaker 2 (7:35) Honest to God. Wattpad Studios, which is fan fiction, right? This is what's fascinating to me about this film. Like there's so much. There is so much. And Speaker 1 (7:48) aren't you excited to see the next one? I'm excited to talk about it with you. Speaker 2 (7:53) Good. Five Speaker 1 (7:56) films. Speaker 2 (7:57) Yeah, I know. Dude, dude. It's like they have taken every trope. Every horny trope from fan fiction that makes 18 to 24-year-old girls and 45-year-old women, like both of those, makes them horny. And they went, we'll put them all into one movie. This character, Hardin, is one of the most fascinating characters in cinema. Like, I am, he is so, it is so difficult to unpack this man. Why? Because why is he like this? Why is he like this? Like what? Just like, he's so angry and broody and unnecessarily cunty. He reads poetry. He breaks into libraries so he can read poetry. He breaks into the library so he can read poetry. And then he'll just like randomly go, like she like has a book report or something. And he's just like the great Gatsby. Speaker 1 (9:01) Oh, this is my favorite line in the film. My favorite line in the film where he goes, I hate to ruin it for you. It's all a dream. Speaker 2 (9:10) And Speaker 1 (9:10) then she goes, no, it's no, no, I'll do him. And you do her. I hate to, I hate to ruin it for you. It's all a dream. And in the end, it's all a dream. Speaker 2 (9:21) I would say it's more of a lie. Speaker 1 (9:23) Yeah. Incredible. Speaker 2 (9:25) Incredible. And their connection. Neither Speaker 1 (9:28) of those readings of the text are good. Speaker 2 (9:34) What's so great about it? Speaker 1 (9:38) Oh, Mish. Speaker 2 (9:39) It's just the most fascinating film. My Speaker 1 (9:42) favourite bit is when she comes to live in the place, right? College. College. And her friend goes, old books? Who brings old books to university? It's so funny. And she does. She just has old books. And I've never seen a pile of old books that more give the energy of an art director sending someone underneath them to an op shop to get old books. Speaker 2 (10:14) But also not even that. It's just like they've got new books but taken the dust cover off them. And they're like, old books. We're Speaker 1 (10:21) going to go to an ad break. And when we get back, we're going to talk more about after. Speaker 2 (10:29) Welcome back. Hi. There is so much about this movie that just fascinates me, but the character of Hardin, I have never hated a character more. You hate Speaker 1 (10:44) Hardin? I hate Hardin. Why? Speaker 1 (10:48) Oh, I don't think you do. Everything about him. I think you hate him and then you would be in the pouring rain and you would say, I Speaker 2 (10:55) hate you, Harden. I hate everything about you. But mostly I hate that I love you. Yeah, Speaker 1 (11:00) I think that's how you feel about Harden. No, I Speaker 2 (11:03) don't. Harden is every, it's just, he is every trope that old people think young people will find. Hot or something? Well, it's Speaker 1 (11:14) written by a 23-year-old, by all accounts. If it came out in 23... Yeah, I know, Speaker 2 (11:18) but it's just so unhorny. He's so deeply unhorny. He's so broody and angry. And yet this Tess person, who, for all intents and purposes, is a nice, smart, well-balanced person. Speaker 1 (11:30) She's got a mother that's completely mental. Speaker 2 (11:33) Unhinged! No, that's a whole other thing. That is a whole other thing. That is... The mother character, who's played by Selma Blair, by the way, like... who I love, love her. The mother character is one of the worst characters ever, ever in a film. What a ridiculous character. But this test person looks at Hardin and he's just some skinny dude with tats and he's glaring all the time and she's just like, he's so mysterious and hot. He's an absolute cunt, but she falls wildly in love with him. And then, like, it's just insane. It's just insane. Can Speaker 1 (12:14) you Speaker 2 (12:14) tell Speaker 1 (12:14) me, Mish... Can you tell me, I was sort of making my breakfast while I was watching it. Can you tell me, is there a bit... Speaker 1 (12:26) Did I misinterpret this bit? Speaker 1 (12:30) Or is there a beat? Where he goes down on her for 10 seconds. Yes, Speaker 2 (12:35) 10 seconds. 10 seconds. And it's this really big build up and he goes down on her for 10 seconds. And then he comes back up and then they just hug each other. He goes down on her for 10 seconds. He comes back up and they hug each other. Speaker 2 (12:52) Yeah. Speaker 1 (12:52) I was like, as he was going down on her, I was like, this is quite, I mean, you don't see this in films very often. I really Speaker 2 (12:59) want to talk about that. Yes. I Speaker 1 (13:01) was like, you genuinely don't see that much in films. I was like, okay, if you're going to go there, then I actually have a little bit of respect. Okay, it's over. Yeah. Speaker 2 (13:11) Well, no, but see, that's the other thing. That's a genuine, like... thing I want to talk about because we've talked about it previously